GAME OF DEADLINES

Waiting for Thrones; defending France; Silicon Valley’s great divide; backstage thrills; and more

David Benioff and Dan Weiss hooked me in the first season of Game of Thrones even though my interest had never been in the fantasy genre [“The Gathering Storm,” by Jim Windolf, April], I’ve read all of the books and am a certified “Throner.” And then I see Dacncrys Targarycn, Jon Snow, Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister, and my personal favorite, Tyrion Lannister, right there on the cover of my favorite periodical.

However, just as Benioff and Weiss are troubled by the show’s catching up with the books, we fans have those same concerns. Most of the readers of George R. R. Martin’s blogs arc worried that he will die before completion; I’m worried that /will.

SHERRY YOUNG DEATONWhite Plains, Georgia

LIBERTE! EGALITE! INSANITE!

There is so much hatred from such a narrow mind in “Liberie! Egahte! Fatigue!” [by A. A. Gill, April], It’s a shame to confuse knowledge with cliches. And according to Gill, it’s the French who are superficial and arrogant? There could just as easily be an article titled “Star Mangled Banner” saying that American culture is being ruined by obesity, illiteracy, fast food, drive-by shootings, crime, violent video games, racism, bad health care, poor educational systerns, and young gun-shooting sociopaths who kill their schoolmates with their “legal” weapons. And what about America’s disastrous wars, from Vietnam to Iraq? What about embarrassing American political sex scandals? From the Kcnncdys to Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Eliot Spitzcr, David Petraeus, John Edwards, and Anthony Weiner, just to name a few. This is not to excuse Hdlande’s inhdelity in any way but he was never married to Valerie Irierweiler: she was his companion, not his mistress,

If French cinema is so horrible then why did Jean Dujardin win the best-actor Oscar a few years ago? Why did The Artist win best picture? Why did Marion Cotillard win best actress for La Vie en Rose! Why did Amour win best foreign him?

If French music is so terrible then why did I Daft Punk sweep all of the top categories at the Grammys? Why does everyone from Madonna to Rihanna to Fady Gaga want to work with French D.J.’s/music producers David Guetta and Martin Solveig?

There arc tons of popular French writers including Max Gallo and Bcrnard-Hcnri Fevy.

All in all, I think this is a sad article based on nothing but the author’s own discrimination against France. I just don’t see what’s so funny or fashionable about spreading hatred.

JUDITH NAVIERGeneva, Switzerland

We get it: A. A. Gill loves America, hates the Old Continent, and especially the French and their much-vaunted culture. But then he cites fetters from Hemingway and Fitzgerald, showing how out of touch his references arc. How about asking Wes Anderson why he lives there [“In the Details: Wes Anderson”]?

The article sounds as if it were written by a brainwashed rejected lover with a grudge.

RUDOEPH VERNAZ-COEASNew York, New York

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 48

As a native Parisian who has lived in the United States for more than A_40 years, I’m afraid I disagree with A. A. Gill.

It is a strange obsession that the French see themselves as the world’s leaders in style, food, and seduction. Growing up in France, I (and everyone I knew) was completely in awe of the United States. Most middle-class French citizens do not resemble the chain-smoking, champagneswilling, elegantly accessorized sophisticates Gill is imagining. Most work hard, raise their children, and live pretty much like Americans (except with decent vacations, free universities, a longer life expectancy, and lower infant mortality). I have always found this fantasy projection about France—a combination of snobbish and sleazy, filled with fancy food and amorous adventure—freakishly far from the truth.

Sorry to say, but cm contraire, Monsieur Gill. France is a far more complicated country than that Pepe Le Pew cartoon you described.

JEAN-JACQUES GARBARZSan Francisco, California

A GOOGLE AFFAIR

The comments from the “Atherton socialite” in “O.K., Glass: Make Google Eyes” [by Vanessa Grigoriadis, April] that Silicon Valley is a man’s world and the women who choose to work in tech are there to land a wealthy husband would have been offensive had they not been so ignorant and out of touch with reality. I have worked for an Internet company for the past eight years, and a majority of the women I have met in the tech world have been smart, hardworking, career-driven individuals. They are there to add value to the companies they work for, not to find a husband. It is unfortunate this socialite has such a negative impression of women in technology.

ERICA GALOS ALIOTOSan Francisco, California

BACKSTAGE WITH THE BOSS

When Springsteen played Philadelphia’s Spectrum arena in 1984, I was ecstatic to get a priceless gift—one of those triangular “After Show” passes Lisa Robinson describes in “Backstage Confidential” [April], Then, naiVely hoping to hang with Bruce backstage, I didn’t know (or care) that the peelback pass would forever leave its mark on my beloved leather bomber jacket. Three decades later, Robinson’s story made me , dig out the jacket from the back of the closet to see if that triangle stain is still there. It is. But is my jacket, as she says, ruined? Hardly! It proves that once I had a backstage pass.

ELLEN WARRENJmkintown, Pennsylvania

I love your magazine and especially enjoyed Lisa Robinson’s “Backstage Confidential” (so much so that I immediately went out and bought her book!). I got a real kick out of her comments on the hierarchy of the backstage passes. I’ve worked as a stagehand at the famous and beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheatre, outside of Denver, for several decades, and your article brought a few “insider” anecdotes to mind.

Popular acts sold out quickly in the relatively small amphitheater, so I often had friends requesting backstage passes to see the show and circumvent the promoter. I would occasionally accommodate their requests with the bottom-of-the-line fabric stick-ons that Robinson mentioned. I realized I could easily tell which friends truly wanted to see the sold-out acts and which ones just wanted the “backstage experience.” Those who truly loved the band and wanted to see the show would leave the backstage area and wander out among the unwashed masses as soon as the band began its performance. After all, that rock band they loved so much had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars designing the lights, sound, and sets to be seen from the house point of view, not backstage!

Robinson’s article then reminded me of a unique laminate created specifically for Green Day’s first tour; the band members were so young that they didn’t even have driver’s licenses, so their parents drove them from gig to gig, thereby requiring a special “Green Day Parents” laminate!

KIRK AMI DAM)Denver, Colorado

CORRECTION: On page 154 of the May issue (“The Snowden Saga”), attribution to Luke Harding’s recent book, The Snowden Files, regarding his account of an e-mail exchange between Edward Snowden and filmmaker Laura Poitras, was deleted during the editorial process. We regret the error.

Letters to the editor should be sent electronically with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number to letters@vf.com. All requests for back issues should be sent to subscriptiond@vf.com. All other queries should be sent to vfmail@vf.com. The magazine reserves the right to edit submissions, which may be published or otherwise used in any medium. Some of the letters included here originally appeared as comments on VF.com. All submissions become the property’ o/Vanity Fair.

#VFLETTERS

All was well (for once) in Westeros when the Game of Thrones cast gathered to pose for Annie Leibovitz. Below, fans react to our collector’s-edition April issue.

@KANAAFA

think the cover needed to mention "also a book"

@WATERBENDINGS

a guy just bought my forgiveness with the game of thrones issue of vanity fair, god i love being powerful

@PR0GGRRL

I see the wealthy Lannisters have bribed your editors to keep most of the Starks off this cover. Typical.

@|vllCHCOLL

Taking Dinklage's ombre to my hairdresser.

@BENJAMMINS

I need this #GameOfThrones @VanityFair magazine in my hands. Now, or I will swear by the old gods and the new!

@CIARANPJD

Cheer up, Stark, what have you got to be so miserable about— Game of Thrones lays claim to the @vanityfair cover

@CHESKA_Slv|ILES

OMG are the characters not in this pic already dead. #DONTSPOILME

@ALYXG

Don't tell anyone but I think Annie Leibovitz might have retouched this dragon